The present invention relates to a food product comprising a substantially solid mass based on chocolate or a chocolate-like product in contact with a moist medium in the non-gelled state, which is in particular non-milk-based, having a local free water content of between 30 and 45%, preferably 35 to 45%, said substantially solid mass having a low water uptake under appropriate preservation conditions. The invention therefore relates to compositions which may be kept at room temperature.
The invention relates more particularly to food products intended to be preserved at room temperature, based on fruit or other sweetened or milk bases, optionally in the presence of thickeners and flavoring agents, having a local free water content of 30to 45%.
Food bars are known which consist of an anhydrous or an only slightly hydrated filling surrounded by a shell made of chocolate or a chocolate-like product.
The use of a layer of chocolate intercalated between a tart base or a wafer and a moist filling to try to prevent the water content in a wet filling from migrating to the tart base or the wafer, is known. The efficacy of this barrier is in fact only a few hours. It is observed, in this case, that the chocolate has completely lost its crunchy character.
Food bars are known which consist of a filling coated with a shell made of chocolate or a chocolate-like product.
Pastry, biscuit or vienna-type products are known which comprise one or more doughs. These comprise in addition:
on the one hand, pieces or fillings or coatings, based on fruit (in the form, for example, of marmalade, jams, fruit puree), or based on other moist ingredients (for example compositions based on milk),
and, on the other hand, chocolate or a chocolate-like product in the form of one or more layers, or in the form of chips. In these products, unlike those of the invention, the quality of the chocolate can only be preserved under one or more of the following conditions:
they are consumed only a few days after manufacture,
the water activity of the product is very low,
the product is refrigerated.
Otherwise, hydration of the solid masses of chocolate or a chocolate-like product is observed which leads to several negative effects which make the product unfit for consumption.
On the one hand, the chocolate or chocolate-like product being a product which is naturally contaminated, its hydration causes the development of bacteria which contaminate the aqueous phase, which is unacceptable because of the preservation standards required in industrialized countries.
On the other hand, the taste value of the solid masses of chocolate or a chocolate-like product lies in their xe2x80x9ccrunchyxe2x80x9d character which is specific to the substance. Excessive hydration (migration of the water across the thickness of the chocolate) causes its decolotization, except for white chocolate, and its gradual softening (destruction and loss of crunchiness) by the outside and leads to rejection of such a food product by the consumer.
The production of a chocolate or a chocolate-like product which is resistant to water is therefore of major interest for the development of food products comprising a phase whose local free content of water is significant, in contact with a solid mass of chocolate or a chocolate-like product.
Conventional chocolates as this is well known can be divided into three categories according to the cocoa content:
dark chocolate about 19% dry and defatted cocoa,
milk chocolate about 6% dry and defatted cocoa,
white chocolate 0% dry and defatted cocoa.
In milk and white chocolates, a portion or the whole of the dry and defatted cocoa is replaced by milk fat or milk particles. The normal sugar content of chocolates is of the order of 25 to 57%. However, these chocolates exhibit an excessive water uptake for the desired applications indicated above.
Accordingly, it has already been proposed to modify the compositions of chocolate or a chocolate-like product so as to adapt them to the abovementioned embodiments.
Patent EP 0 615 692 describes a milk-based refrigerated product containing pieces of chocolate which can be preserved for 5 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator and whose pieces preserve their integrity well during this lapse of time.
This patent indicates that the sugar level is between 1 and 10% and preferably between 1 and 3%. However, such an embodiment leads to solid masses of chocolate or a chocolate-like product having a bitter taste which can put off certain consumers. Furthermore, in order to mask this bitterness as much as possible, it is necessary to limit the size of the chocolate particles, in particular between 1 and 4 mm.
Patent application EP-A-770 332 also describes a food product in which one or more layers consist of a breakable solid mass of chocolate. The chocolate layer has a thickness of between 0.1 and 3 mm and a sugar content of less than 17%, preferably between 2 and 3%. According to this document, such a layer preserves the crunchy character desired by the consumer.
It will be noted that this document presents a teaching similar to patent application EP-A-615 692 since in both cases, it is recommended to minimize the sugar content, which leads to very unbalanced chocolates from the organoleptic point of view (bitter, not sweet, low flavor).
The chocolates thus produced are therefore very unbalanced from the organoleptic point of view (bitter, not sweet, low flavor).
After systematic studies, the applicant has demonstrated that, contrary to the teachings described in the abovementioned documents, the water-resistant character of the chocolate was not linked to the low sugar content. Because of this, the invention breaks with the bias according to which sugar is more unfavorable to water resistance than cocoa. Moreover, the invention shows that it is possible to produce water-resistant chocolates whose fat content is less than 80%, advantageously less than 68% and even preferably less than 65%, which avoids a fatty mouthfeel and an unfavorable nutritional image, while preserving a good organoleptic balance.
The applicant has found that a novel chocolate or chocolate-like product composition in the form of a solid mass made it possible to use said mass of chocolate or a chocolate-like product in combination with an aqueous phase while preserving the desired crunchy character.
These solid masses in the aqueous phase may be preserved at room temperature for at least two weeks up to more than five weeks, which constitutes the desired shelf life for this type of food product.
The expression room temperature is generally understood to mean a temperature of between 10xc2x0 C. and the melting point of the cocoa fat or the like. These solid masses are therefore distinguishable from craft pastry products.
In general, the invention is characterized in that the substantially solid mass of chocolate or chocolate-like product comprises, as a percentage by weight:
the solid mass being such that for an aqueous phase having a local free water content of between 30% and 45%, preferably 35-45%, the parameter (T) is less than 3, the parameter T being defined by the equation:
xcfx84=(xe2x88x9216.6xc3x97[water]+2.9)xc3x97F+(22.5xc3x97[water]xe2x88x923.5)xc3x97(S+SMP)+(66.9xc3x97[water]xe2x88x9211.8)xc3x97C with:
[water] is the local free water content of the moist phase in contact (in g/g),
F is the fat content of the chocolate or equivalent (g/g),
S+SMP is the content of sugars+skimmed milk powder in the chocolate or equivalent (in %),
C is the dry and defatted cocoa content of the chocolate or equivalent.
The local free water content [local free water] is defined by the equation:
[local free water]=[total water]xc3x97AW 25xc2x0 C./100-F in which:
[local free water] is given in grams of water per 100 grams of product
F is given in grams of fat per 100 grams of product.
For a non-fatty gel containing 42.6% of water and with AW 25xc2x0 C. 0.85, the local free water content is 36.2%.
According to one variant, the proportion of dry and defatted cocoa and of skimmed milk powder is such that their sum is less than 25%.